Otley LIBRARY is due to open this weekend - and after many years of waiting, the town will get a public facility to be proud of. Tomorrow's official opening ceremony will include top city councillors and our own town Bellman, Paddy Steval, as well as a host of Otley schoolchildren.

There will also be the handing over of a copy of a book written by Otley cabinet maker Thomas Chippendale - donated by the Chippendale Society and destined to take pride of place in the new Nelson Street building.

Built at a cost of £1.1 million, the library will include a tourist information centre, which for years occupied a small part of the Boroughgate library - after the old office next door closed down. A computer suite, with broadband access, will mean internet access for all, and there will also be DVDs and CDs available to borrow - as well as a boosted range of books.

Open seven days a week, the library will also have public toilets - an alternative for the centre's only other public facilities in Orchard Gate.

Now we have got the library, we must ensure that it is used. The old library at times seemed like a well kept secret; a goldmine for those who knew it existed. But the new library must attract more people. It would be a crying shame for such a splendid building to go to waste.

No matter how hard Leeds City Council tries to justify its decision to not only ban non-Leeds residents from using the Ellar Ghyll household waste tip near Menston, but threaten them with prison or fines to boot, the ruling makes no sense at all. Leeds says that it has taken this step to bring it in line with other authorities which do the same - but Bradford is not one of them.

To force people living round the corner from the tip to drive six miles to the next one does nothing for the environment, increases pollution and discourages people from recycling their rubbish.

We entirely agree with the views of Bradford district councillor Matt Palmer (Wharfedale) and applaud his efforts to get the decision reversed.